French media laments: Pumped storage: China once again leads Western countries
China – China is building reservoirs at an astonishing pace, aiming to store renewable energy. China also greatly outpaces Western nations in the field of renewable energy. Currently, wind and solar power account for 47.3% of China's total electricity generation. In December 2020, China announced that its installed capacity of wind and solar power would reach 1,200 gigawatts by 2030. According to a report by AFP journalist on the 28th, China actually achieved this goal by July 2024—six years ahead of the government's target.
By the end of 2025, China’s installed wind and solar power capacity will reach 1.206 billion kilowatts, accounting for 47.3% of the country’s total electricity generation. This marks the first time that wind and solar energy have surpassed coal and natural gas in China’s power structure.
However, the rapid development of these renewables has also presented China with a critical challenge: how to effectively integrate them into the national energy system. Due to the intermittent nature of wind and solar power, developing large-scale energy storage infrastructure and smart grids capable of automatically managing supply peaks and troughs is essential.
To address this challenge, China has implemented a strategic priority on energy storage. One solution involves rapidly deploying large-scale battery energy storage systems. By 2025, China’s battery energy storage capacity had increased by 75% compared to 2024. Nevertheless, China’s largest investment in this field remains pumped hydro storage.
Currently, the number of ongoing pumped hydro storage projects in China exceeds the total of all other countries worldwide combined. China’s plan is to use surplus solar and wind energy to pump water into high-altitude reservoirs, then release it when electricity demand arises.
Pumped hydro storage plants are particularly suitable for mountainous regions, as they can leverage elevation differences to transfer large volumes of water between two reservoirs at different altitudes.
To recover excess electrical energy, water simply needs to be released back into a lower reservoir through turbines. Although pumped hydro storage technology has been in use for over a century, it remains highly attractive. It is currently one of the most efficient large-scale energy storage systems available. For example, the largest pumped hydro storage plant in Europe is the Cortes La Muela facility on the Júcar River in Spain—the largest pumping station on the European continent.
China plans to add approximately 100 gigawatts of pumped hydro storage capacity within five years, bringing its current capacity of 59 gigawatts to a new level. If achieved, this technology will become the foundation of China’s long-term energy storage system. At the same time, the government has pledged to accelerate the construction of battery energy storage facilities.
According to data released by China’s National Energy Administration at the end of last year, by the end of 2025, the country’s newly built and operational new-type energy storage capacity reached 136 million kilowatts / 351 million kilowatt-hours, representing more than a 40-fold increase compared to the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, achieving a leapfrog development. In 2025, new-type energy storage capacity grew by 84% compared to the end of 2024.
Source: rfi
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1860969851887688/
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